OMEGA Reworks the Speedmaster 38 Around Classic Moonwatch Codes

The Speedmaster 38 has always occupied a slightly different corner of the Speedmaster family. Its 38mm case made the chronograph easier to wear, while colour, polished surfaces and, in some versions, diamonds gave the collection a character distinct from the instrument-led severity of the Moonwatch. With seven new references, OMEGA has begun to narrow that distance.

The changes are subtle, yet the watches remain recognisably Speedmaster 38s, but together they alter the collection’s posture. Most obvious are the subdials, now round instead of oval, bringing the chronograph display closer to the geometry associated with the Moonwatch. OMEGA has also reduced the amount of text on the dial, and the bezels return to a thicker profile complete with the familiar Dot-Over-Ninety detail on the tachymeter scale.

The bracelet has been reconsidered too. All seven watches are now fitted with a five-link design inspired by the Moonwatch bracelet, with polished or brushed central links depending on the reference. The effect is a more coherent connection to the wider Speedmaster lineage without abandoning the proportions that have defined the 38mm collection.

Two movements divide the collection

Underneath, OMEGA uses two self-winding co-axial calibres. Six of the seven references are powered by the Calibre 3330 and retain a date display, while the black-dial steel model uses the Calibre 3332 and removes the date altogether. That distinction is significant because the latter is also the model that makes the clearest visual approach towards the Moonwatch.

Its black varnished dial has a matte finish, matched with a black aluminium bezel and white Super-LumiNova across the hands and hour markers. The bracelet combines three brushed rows with two narrower polished links. With no date aperture interrupting the dial, it is the most restrained of the group and the one most directly tied to the Speedmaster’s established visual language.

The other steel references move further into colour. A lacquered white dial is paired with a blue ceramic bezel and blue CVD-coated hands and indexes, the same tone extending to the date numerals. Another steel model uses a warm grey aluminium bezel around an opaline silvery PVD dial, with Sedna Gold PVD hands and baton markers. Brown and Sedna Gold tones appear again within the subdials, giving the watch a warmer register without changing the underlying chronograph layout.

Bicolour returns in two forms

The two bicolour references use gold sparingly, concentrated around the bezel, hands and smaller bracelet links.

The first combines stainless steel with 18K Moonshine Gold, adding a green aluminium bezel ring and a yellow-gold tachymeter scale. The silvery opaline PVD dial carries Moonshine Gold PVD hands and baton indexes filled with white Super-LumiNova, while the narrow bracelet links continue the same gold treatment.

Sedna Gold defines the second bicolour model. OMEGA builds on the “cappuccino” palette long associated with the Speedmaster 38, pairing an ivory main dial with contrasting brown PVD-coated subdials. A polished 18K Sedna Gold bezel frames a brown aluminium insert, while the smaller bracelet links are also executed in Sedna Gold. Of the seven, it is perhaps the reference that most clearly preserves the softer, more decorative identity the 38mm line established for itself.

Diamonds bring a different kind of emphasis

The final two watches move further from the conventional Moonwatch template. Each uses a bezel set with 52 diamonds totalling 1.53 carats, offered with either an ice-blue PVD-coated dial or white mother-of-pearl. Rhodium-plated hands and baton-shaped indexes provide the structure, with white Super-LumiNova keeping the displays legible.

What makes this update interesting is the way OMEGA has approached the Speedmaster 38 without trying to flatten its personality into that of the Moonwatch. The round subdials, thicker bezel, Dot-Over-Ninety scale and revised bracelet establish a clearer family resemblance, while the use of colour, precious metals and gem-setting keeps the 38mm collection on its own trajectory.

For a Speedmaster line that has always worked through proportion and polish as much as heritage, that balance feels like the point. The Moonwatch is now easier to read in its face, but the Speedmaster 38 still knows exactly which part of the family it belongs to.

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